Around this time of the year I see aphids (probably green peach aphid) on the leaves of branch tips. They can be numerous causing the small leaves to wrinkle, and slow their growth and the branch growth. At this time, I don’t really need additional branch elongation, but I am wondering if those aphids may be transmitting bacterial or viral disease to the trees… Last year I sprayed them with horticultural oil, which effectively killed them, but I wonder if this spraying is worth the effort or no…
The risk of aphids spreading diseases is rather small. I haven’t heard of it being much of an issue. And this late in the yr they won’t damage the tree by infecting a few new leaves. I’d ignore them.
In spring they can be an issue if there are enough of them. Leaf damage of any kind is much more significant in spring than fall. The energy they drain of is also more important in spring.
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Does this apply to Spider Mites this time of year?I was able to slow them down during the Summer and some trees were putting out new leaves.
Then the other day,another outbreak occured and spraying was done,but about a third of the leaves were killed on a couple of plants.
Survival until next year is the main goal. Brady
Losing a third of the leaves this late in the yr won’t concern me. Some of mine are dropping that just from being so dry. Total defoliation at this time won’t be good but the tree would survive the winter except maybe under severe conditions. Your conditions in winter are pretty mild, I think.
I haven’t had an issue with spider mites this late in the yr. They come on strong in late April or May. Spray then and 6 weeks later usually does the job. You may be using different materials than me for control.
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My concern about too much defoliation is that it’s early enough that the tree might try to releaf, and then flower buds may not survive.